Stocks Rise At End of Best Quarter in Decades

Stocks ended June with another move higher, capping the best quarter for the major indexes in decades.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 217 points, 0.85 percent higher. The S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.87 percent.

• The Dow ended the second quarter with a 17.8 percent gain, the biggest quarterly gain since 1987.
• The S&P 500 is up nearly 20 percent, the best quarter since 1998.
• Nasdaq Composite is up 30.6 percent, the best quarter since 1999.

The yield on the 10-year ticked up slightly to 0.658 percent, 0.022 points higher. Oil slipped slightly lower, with West Texas Intermediate crude closing at $39.38 a gallon, 0.86 percent lower, and the global standard Brent Crude falling 1.37 percent.

All 11 sectors of the S&P were up for the day. Energy was the best performing sector, followed by health care and consumer discretionary. Utilities, industrials, and consumer staples–sectors that tend to outperform when investors seek to reduce risk–were the laggards.